[kepler-dev] XMLToken and RecordToken

[Jianting Zhang]

Dear Dr. Lee:

My name is Jianting Zhang and I'm doing my post-doc with SEEK project at 
UNM. My background is in database and I'm learning Ptlemey/Kepler.

I noticed that there are XMLToken and RecordToken in Ptolemy. While I 
understand the funtion of RecordType, it seems to me that XMLToken is 
currently just a placeholder with little real functionality. Could you 
elabarate a little bit about the design philosophy of XMLToken?

I'm working on workflow of geospatial data processing in Kepler which 
involves many interfacing issues with crrent GIS/Remote Sensing processing 
software, which in turn invovles user defined complex data types. Also I'm 
interested in making the processing distributed by using dynamic(stubless) 
Web services. At present, it seems that XML/GML is a good solution to link 
GIS/RS-Web Services-Ptolemy/Kepler. This is the reason I'm intestered in 
XMLToken in Ptolemy.

Since I didn't find desired functionality (accessing name/type/value pair in 
an XML string and type checking) in XMLToken, I'm thinking maping DOM 
hierchary to RecordType hierarchy, which is possible at least conceptually. 
Alternatively, I can extend XMLToken. Would you comment which way might be 
better?

Best Regards

Jianting